


Breaking Down Walls

by DigUpTheBones_ButLeaveTheSoulAlone



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff and Angst, Multi, Threesome, Time Skips, past trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-04
Updated: 2016-08-04
Packaged: 2018-07-29 08:37:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7677535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DigUpTheBones_ButLeaveTheSoulAlone/pseuds/DigUpTheBones_ButLeaveTheSoulAlone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’d been painful since Sasuke had nearly become a traitor. Kakashi-sensei and Naruto dragged him back. The Sand Siblings brought back her other teammates. She saw Shikamaru and his shaking shoulders, Neji was nearly dead, so was Choji. </p>
<p>	Kiba looked stuck between terrified, angry, and horror.</p>
<p>It was painful, to see it all. Painful because people almost died: painful because Ino looked at her with anger. Painful because Sasuke only became colder. Naruto was there for Sasuke like he always was. Kakashi-sensei doubled down in his efforts to keep Sasuke sane. She was helpless again. Helpless and unable to do anything other than watch as her entire life shattered and tried to glue itself back together again. But glue only went so far.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part One

**Author's Note:**

> This story features a three-way relationship between Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke. There is no sex in this story, though I may end up continuing this as part of a series. I'm not quite sure.  
> Thanks,  
> DigUpTheBones_ButLeaveTheSoulAlone

Breaking Down Walls  
Part One  
It’d been painful since Sasuke had nearly become a traitor. Kakashi-sensei and Naruto dragged him back. The Sand Siblings brought back her other teammates. She saw Shikamaru and his shaking shoulders, Neji was nearly dead, so was Choji. 

Kiba looked stuck between terrified, angry, and horror.

It was painful, to see it all. Painful because people almost died: painful because Ino looked at her with anger. Painful because Sasuke only became colder. Naruto was there for Sasuke like he always was. Kakashi-sensei doubled down in his efforts to keep Sasuke sane. She was helpless again. Helpless and unable to do anything other than watch as her entire life shattered and tried to glue itself back together again. But glue only went so far.

And she’d been left behind again.

So she stepped back. She cut herself off from them. She didn’t have the strength to say something, so she stopped herself from being there anymore.

Instead of going to the hospital to see Naruto and Sasuke-because they both almost killed each other-she started training with Lee-kun. He was the only one who understood: who got her. He understood her. Where his body had broken, it had been her will. He didn’t help her glue it back together again. He let her create herself over again. Some pieces of the old Sakura she kept. But she stopped letting herself stay behind.

He was the one who didn’t give her false hope when she fell. He wasn’t cruel. He didn’t sigh and tell her to switch so that Naruto and Sasuke could go back to training and stop wasting their time. He just gave her a thumbs up and told her how to do it right. Days turn into weeks, weeks into months, and the ache in her chest never really fades. She doesn’t know why: Naruto is the one who seeks her out now. Sasuke doesn’t, but sometimes she sees him with Kakashi-sensei. He watches her hard as she gives an awkward smile and moves on. But even that becomes less and less common.

Their team has been suspended for now. The claim was Sasuke’s mental instability and Naruto’s chakra instability. But she knows the truth.

Naruto is the Kyuubi. It doesn’t really surprise her: shortly after Sasuke had been brought back Naruto had gone into a rage, his claws growing longer and he’d sprouted fangs. Sasuke had sneered and told him to stop being a little bitch-which pissed him off even more. It was just one more thing for Sakura to be behind in. Sasuke was born to a powerful clan. Naruto had the Kyuubi. She had...she had what exactly? 

After that she sits down with Kiba and apologizes. For what, she’s not quite sure. She thinks she choses him, though, because he reminds her a bit of Naruto. She doesn’t know what to apologize for, though. For Sasuke? Or for the fact that he and Akamaru almost died because she was the one who wanted him back so far? Or because she was too weak to go too? She ends up crying-for a reason she can’t quite remember. He freaks out a bit like Naruto would, at first. But then through her bumbling and sobbing, he tells her that she should talk to Kurenai-sensei when she says she’s tired of being so weak. She hugs him-snotting all over him and he laughs somewhat panicked and holds her a bit awkwardly.

She does ask her. She looks surprised when she does, and asks her about Kakashi-sensei. It almost makes Sakura cry when she looks at the ground and tells her that he hasn’t had the time. Naruto and Sasuke...she hadn’t been able to finish that sentence. But she sets aside time and teaches her two techniques. The first one allowed her to change her opponents direction constantly. The second one was one that allowed a mirage of sakura blossoms to appear, masking the appearance of exploding tags.

It was incredibly useful against Gai-sensei and Lee-kun. Gai-sensei brings her into their training sessions, and Tenten smiles at her awkwardly and does her best to make her feel welcome. Neji watches her, but isn’t cruel like he was. Instead, sometimes, he helps her adjust her stance.

The aching hadn’t gone away though-she missed her boys. But they had disappeared too. Naruto stops visiting her at some point. She hasn’t seen Kakashi-sensei in two months and the only time she sees Sasuke is in passing. The same time everyday, though. He watches her as she slips into the library. She’s not quite sure why, but she can never bring herself to talk to him. And he doesn’t try to talk to her either.

She deserves it, she thinks to herself. She was the weak one.

 

“Sakura-chan!” She hears. She smiles a bit, to herself, and turns back to look at Naruto, running towards her brazenly, Sasuke scowling behind him. It makes her heart clench. It’s not the same. Things have changed and she’s not quite sure how to fix it.

“Naruto-kun,” she says politely. “Sasuke-kun.” She says a bit more formal, and turns to Naruto to smile brightly.

Behind him, Sasuke narrows his eyes a bit.

“You’ve been training with bushy-brows!” He accuses her, pouting and upset. There’s hurt buried beneath his eyes. 

She gives a tight, somewhat tragic smile. “Hai, Naruto-kun.” She said simply, not trusting the way her throat began closing and relaxing as she forced herself to stay calm. She ventures a look back at Sasuke, who looks like he’s looking through her. She doesn’t let it get to her.

“Why Sakura-chan?” He asked, whining and frowning.

She hesitates for a moment, wondering what she should say. Her eyes flicker between Naruto and Sasuke, and she settles the nerves in her stomach. “Because I’m done with being left behind.” Her voice is cool, calm, and collected. It’s everything she thinks she’s not. Naruto’s eyes narrow and Sasuke’s eyes widen. But she smiles at them. “I have to train, gomenasai.” She gave a wave and turned on her heel, walking at a carefully measured pace. She doesn’t run, but she also doesn’t let them think that she is hesitating. Because she’s not. She won’t be left behind again.

Two weeks later they crash her training with Lee-kun. Sasuke looks annoyed, until she kicks Naruto in the temple hard enough to send him spinning. It had been a victory in her book. It made Sasuke stop looking annoyed, more calculating.

And then Kakashi-sensei had winked at Sakura.

“I knew you could do it, Sakura-chan!” Naruto yelled. She glared, yelling, and kicked him again, this time in the stomach. When Lee-kun tells her that she is the Prodigy of Youth, Sasuke looked like he wanted to vomit, but went head-to-head with Lee-kun while Naruto and Sakura sparred.

It wasn’t easy. Her body ached something fierce, her legs felt wobbly by the end of the day, and she panted hard. She felt like she was going to die of dehydration, when Sasuke threw her his canteen. He didn’t look happy, but not so unhappy either. Naruto and Lee-kun were still at it, and Kakashi-sensei was reading a book while Gai-sensei chatted with him. (And by chatting, Sakura means yelling and singing about Youth, Lee-kun, and Sakura-chan.)

She wasn’t sure how this became her life.

But the ache wasn’t there anymore.


	2. Part Two (Four Years Later)

Breaking Down Walls  
Part Two  
(Four Years Later)  


Sakura watched Sasuke carefully. He’s annoyed: obviously so. His long hair is ruffled more than it usually is. His hair has flattened a bit over the years, and his bangs longer as well. He’d also grown taller than Naruto-though not quite as broad. His shoulders are stiff, tight and his fists clench and unclench when no one but Sakura or Naruto look. He’d just come out of a council meeting.  
Naruto was tense, but he’d been that way since Jiraiya had come and spoken to him. His own blonde hair was getting longer too-though he always complained about it. But Naruto is uncharacteristically quiet and has been for over a week. She tried to talk to them both, but they just ignored her. Sasuke, with a cold glare, and Naruto with a misdirected comment or compliment. Sakura was tired of it. She was tired of being left out of things, and it’d been getting more and more frequent lately.

She stands quietly, and Sasuke spares her a glance. She levels a stare at him, turns abruptly on her heel.

“I’m going to the bar tonight. If either of you decide that you’re done hiding things from me, you can meet me there.” Her voice is cutting, annoyed, and hurt. She flicks a piece of her pink hair back, and thought to herself that she needed a haircut too.

It was starting to be like the old times again. She hadn’t grown out her hair in so long, and she was starting to remember why. She began walking, chin up, refusing to let them see her falter. Somehow they always did, though.

“Sakura-chan-”

“We’re a team, Naruto.” Her voice is hard. “Maybe you two should start remembering that I’m on that team.” She disappears in a cloud of flower petals. Her throat is tight, and she aches for it to stop.

The bar is full, but it’s a shinobi bar. It’s not as annoyingly rowdy as the one she’d gone too on her seventeenth birthday. It smells like cheap stale beer: and it’s the kind she orders. Sakura may be a Jounin now-but she had bills to pay. Living alone was expensive, and while she wanted to get shit-faced drunk, she still had to think of the consequences. It tastes like crap, but she sucks it down easily and orders another one as she stares into space.

She still remembers the day that she was considered legal. Naruto and Sasuke had just gotten back from a mission and Naruto had conspired with Ino and Tenten to get everyone together to celebrate it. Sasuke looked murderous, but had gotten her a set of throwing stars. Naruto had gotten her a hair piece that she wears even now: though mostly, because the pins are actually throwing needles. 

Something had changed that night though. And things hadn’t been the same since. They’d woken up in the same bed, dressed, but together. It’d been awhile since something like that had happened. When they were younger they shared beds all the time on missions. But Sakura woke up practically pinned between Naruto and Sasuke, and the implications weren’t as innocent as wanting to keep costs down on a mission.

Since then though, it’s been harder.

They’re a fucking team. They’re supposed to face things together: as a team. It’d taken a year after Sasuke’s attempted defection for them to see her as anything other than a girl that needed protecting. She fought her way through the Chuunin exams: busted her ass through medical training. Killed a damn Akatsuki member. Carried Naruto half-way through the Jounin exams when he’d been poisoned and healed Sasuke when he’d nearly gotten his arm torn off by an Akatsuki member. And now? Now they hardly speak to her anymore. She almost crushes the next glass but takes a deep breath in and calls out for another one.

This was going to be a long night.

She drinks steadily, enough to get a buzz. Since her training with her shishou-her metabolism has been fine-tuned to run through alcohol and poison like it’s nothing.

Sakura wishes, not for the first time in her life, that it wasn’t that way. 

“Sakura-chan,” Kiba says as he pulls up a chair next to her. “You look radiant tonight!” He says smoothly, with a goofy smile on his face. She sputters, laughing with a mouthful, but manages to choke down the cheap beer. 

She shakes her head, smiling. “Not tonight, Kiba-kun.” She tells him, a bit sadly. He pouts, and then brightens.

“So...someday?” Her jade green eyes laugh a bit, and she shakes her head.

“Oi! Get outta here, dogbreath!” She heard Naruto yell, and she resists the urge to smile. You’re angry at him, she thinks to herself. Instead, she takes a sip and turns to Kiba, giving a tight smile. He pouts, then winks at her.

He turns to Naruto, smirking. “Oi, maybe if you were a better teammate, Sakura-chan wouldn’t have to come running to m-ouch, Sakura-chan!”

She pushes him, laughing and shaking her head at him. But now that she’s facing behind her, Naruto looks on edge and Sasuke looks angry.

“Go Kiba-kun!” She says, sweetly, and Kiba ducks in and kisses her cheek quickly, before dodging under Naruto’s swinging arm.

It’s been over four years since she went to Kiba crying, and he’s still a good friend. She feels her face fall now that he’s not around and she spares a glance at Naruto. He’s jealous-he always is. But he’s not as much of a dick as Sasuke-whose glaring at her.

She turns around, facing forward and she orders three drinks. Her boys sit next to her, quiet and unsure. Unsure of what to say-from the way Sasuke looks like he wants to be anywhere but here. Naruto looks like he’s arguing with himself.

It’s four rounds later when Sakura finally feels the buzz. Her head is spinning a bit, and she closes her eyes and puts her head on her fist. The bartender avoids them, and it takes both Sasuke and Sakura to call them.

After another round, though, Sakura finds herself tired of it. Her boys won’t speak, and she just sighs. She puts down cash on the bar and slips off of her chair, somewhat wobbly, and just begins walking. Her body aches, her joints feel old. But she just stands and starts walking, eyes focusing forward.

Sasuke takes the lead, suddenly, and she stops. He turns back to her, eyebrow raised, and she looks at Naruto. 

He’s not looking at her-just watching his feet, behind Sasuke. She sighs, trudging her feet towards him. She follows them wordlessly, and she finds them leading her to the forest around the Uchiha compound. It was near overgrown, with thick trees and bushes. They stop near a pond, and Sakura feels the humming in her blood start to fade.

She really doesn’t want it too.

“Sit, Sakura.” Sasuke tells her, but it holds no edge.

She wants to fight though, she wants to keep that buzzing in her veins going. She wants to feel something other than sad for kami-sake!

She glares. 

“No, Sasuke. Tell me what’s going on. Both of you!” Naruto coughs shrugging. Sasuke hits him, because of course, Naruto always goes first.

“I...the Kyuubi...Kurama,” he mumbles out. “It’s...the seal that the Fourth used on me is…” Sakura feels her bones go cold, and she feels her blood rush through, hot and fast.

“Fading?” Sakura asks.

Naruto shakes his head. “No! It’s...deteriorating, I guess. So kind of, but not in the way you think.” He grabs his head and grunts. “He’s...becoming a part of me.” Naruto says finally. “Our minds are beginning to meld together. We’re...fusing. One day, all that’ll be around are his memories and instincts. I’ll absorb all of the chakra but it...it could…”

“He won’t be the same.” Sasuke says gruffly. “He’ll look different. Act different. But he’ll still have the same moral compass. He’ll still be Naruto.”

And Sakura wonders how long they could keep this from her, because obviously Sasuke knows. And dammit, she’s furious.

“I-Sakura-chan, I understand if it scares you. B-but I don’t want things to change between us! Not like that.” He says, avoiding her eyes. “But he’s a part of me, a person, or thing, whatever, that is a part of me.”

“You-you-you assholes!” She snaps. “How could you keep this from me!” She yells. Naruto flinches, Sasuke bristles, but Sakura isn’t done. “After everything, after everything I’ve done to try and-for kami-sake, did you think I would look at you different? You’re still Naruto! You’re still one of my boys! You’re still the same Naruto I love and fight with! And you-Sasuke, I know for damn sure that this isn’t the only thing that you’re hiding, and if I wasn’t drunk I’d punt you into next week!” She says, shrieking.

Naruto’s eyes are wide, and Sasuke looks like he wants to cover his ears, but kicks Naruto. Naruto falls forward, hollering and pouting.

“See? Dobe, I told you she wouldn’t care.”

Sakura glares at Naruto, silencing him, before she looks at Sasuke. He glares at her back.

“Calm down, woman.” Sasuke snaps. He looks agitated, but he sits down next to Naruto. But he doesn’t start talking, instead, he clenches his fists and looks like he wants to murder someone. 

“They want Sasuke to sell the Uchiha complex to them.” Naruto says quietly, and Sakura suddenly feels ill. 

She sits down between them, reaching for Sasuke’s fist and leans up against Naruto. “Can they make you?” She asks quietly, all the fight having slipped from her. Who asks a surviving member of any family to sell of their property, all those memories? Who could do that in good conscious?

Sasuke gives her a look of ‘can-anyone-really-make-me-do-anything’ but he looks angry, like he doesn’t want to admit that they can.

She sighs. “Can they make a case and veto over you?” She says instead, because she’d heard of stuff happening like that before.

He breaths out, angry and frustrated. So yes.

“How can we halt that process?” Sakura asks. Naruto hums behind her, nuzzling her shoulder. She hears him sniff, growl and then rub his hair and face on her side. Sasuke rears back, eyes narrowed and Sakura frowns.

Is he…?

“Are you smelling her?” Sasuke asks, looking both bewildered and a mix of surprise and confusion. Sakura jerks away from him, into Sasuke’s lap, who immediately goes stiff. 

Naruto has a blush on his cheeks, but he looks at them both shamelessly. “She smells good!” Sakura glares.

“No-no, Naruto, that was not just smelling me! That’s what Akamaru did to Kiba when Ino leapt all over him after she dumped perfume all over him!” She hisses.

He glares. “You smell like Kiba.” Then he moves forward, butting his head into her stomach, before falling on both her and Sasuke’s laps. Sasuke, who, literally looks like he wants to stand up and burn Naruto with something.

Sakura gapes, mouth opening and closing as nothing comes out.

Naruto twists, looking up at both of them. He smirks. “You said you love me, Sakura-chan. I’m one of your boys.” He says, suddenly.

Sasuke groans, behind her, but she can still feel his tense body behind her back, his warmth.

Sakura feels red-but she blames it on the alcohol. She also blames the fact she hasn’t moved from either of them on the alcohol as well. So she rolls her eyes. “And?” She doesn’t feel shame when she acknowledges it. Naruto’s eyes widen and Sasuke turns his head to her, slightly. Out of the corner of her eye she can see he’s watching her stiffly, a mix of anger and confusion.

“I thought you loved Sasuke-teme!” Naruto says, looking genuinely confused. 

“I love you both,” she blurts out, and then freezes. But Naruto looks mollified. His eyes soften towards her and he reaches up to her, brushing past her cheek and tucking in a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Yeah, me too.” Naruto says cheesily, turning into her stomach. He settles his head onto her lap, but burrows closely into her stomach.

Sasuke feels tense, but he doesn’t move.

“It’s okay, Sasuke-kun.” Sakura says quietly. “You don’t have to feel the same way.” About me, she finishes silently in her head. Instead, she refocuses the conversation. “Is there anyway to throw the council off of your trail?”

“I told them that the Uchiha compound belonged to the Uchiha.” He says stiffly, and Sakura rolls her eyes.

“Sasuke-kun, is there anything we can do now that could hold them off?”

“We?” Sasuke asks stiffly. Sakura looks up at him a bit shyly.

“We’re a team, Sasuke-kun.”

“Oi, teme-don’t be an ass.”

“So long as it’s empty-they’ll fight.” He says, and it gives Sakura an idea.

“Empty?” Sasuke goes stiff again, and looks down at her. Naruto shifts, inhaling and rubbing himself against her legs. Sakura stiffens again, but it seems that Naruto is done with her as he moves to Sasuke, crawling and crushing her thighs against his stomach. She grunts, frowning at his strange behavior.

And then she remembers why he was so afraid of telling her.

Sasuke hits his head, glaring sharply. Naruto smirks, though.

“What, teme?” Sasuke glares, fiercely, shaking and flashes his Sharingan. Sakura hauls Naruto back, pushing him and shifts herself up on his knees. 

Naruto falls on his back, looking up at Sakura. He grins.

“Oi, if you wanted me on my back, you could have just asked Sakura-chan!” Sakura’s cheeks are set aflame and she gasps.

“You’re worse than Jiraiya! And Kiba!” She snaps, throwing a handful of grass at him. He doesn’t laugh, but his eyes narrow.

“How would you know about Kiba?” He says suddenly. His eyes are twitching and she takes a deep breath.

THWAK

“Sakura-chan!” Naruto says, whining, nursing the red spot on the side of his forehead.

She rolled her eyes and sat back down, Sasuke within leaning distance. She doesn’t though, because now she feels like she’s breaking what they have. It’s the three of them: not two. Especially not a two that includes Sasuke and Sakura. She twists, so that she can face both of her boys. But the look that Sasuke is giving her almost make a chill run down her spine.

She frowns, unsure. 

“Sasuke-kun?” 

“You didn’t answer his question.” 

Sakura gapes, eyes wide, and she-what?

Naruto cackles. “I knew it! I knew it teme! You love us!” Sasuke snarls at him, before turning to Sakura.

“He’s loud, obnoxious and has little to any redeeming qualities.” Sakura glares.

“He was there!” She challenged. “When I wasn’t worth either of your time, he was there! Kami, I’m not sleeping with him! And even if I was, what does it matter? Naruto has slept with a ton of other people and I know that you’re not a-you know what!” She shouts, defensive.

Naruto frowns suddenly, and Sasuke looks guarded again.

Sakura stands up suddenly, feeling dizzy and so unsure.

This is what she gets for getting drunk. This is something she should have gone into with a clear head.

“When you two decide to be reasonable, we can talk about whatever you want,” she stutters out. “But until then, I am not going to be ganged up by you two!” She turns on her heel. 

Someone grabs her arm and someone else grabs her ankle. They pull her down with them.

“You’re right, Sakura-chan, we’re being dicks.” Naruto says.

Sasuke doesn’t agree, but then again he doesn’t disagree either. She breaths out and notices that she can see her breath. She frowns, and wonders if she’s cold.

The gooseflesh that breaks out across her skin tells her that she is. She looks at Naruto and Sasuke, but they both look like they’re going over something in their heads.

“I’m going back to my apartment.” She tells them quietly. “I’m getting cold. You both can come, too.” They look up at her, but Sasuke shakes his head.

“I’m...I’m going to the compound.” He says quietly. It’s cold, but she can see the vulnerability in his eyes. It wasn’t easy when it came to Sasuke’s family. She still remembers the tears she shed when he cut through her feelings when she’d asked him why Itachi mattered so much. Naruto had punched him, and they’d launched into a vicious fight. That was before she had started training on her own. Kakashi-sensei had walked her home that night, silently.

She remembers walking there one day, when Sasuke was out on a mission with Naruto and feeling so...so alone there. Wondering how Sasuke could live with the pain, and then she realized that he wasn’t really.

It was then that she stopped trying to want him to love her and wanted him just to live. 

Sakura turns to him.

“We can go there first.” She says to him, and then looks at Naruto, who nods. They both know what this means. That he’ll walk around again, and hate himself because Itachi is still not dead. Itachi is still around, still reminding Sasuke every single fucking day that he wasn’t strong enough. And Sasuke has to deal with that every single fucking day. Every day. And walking through the compound? He’d done it twice, from Sakura’s knowledge. And every time he had been a wreck after.

“You aren’t going there alone,” Naruto says. “No way in hell.” Sasuke doesn’t glare at them this time, just nods and stands. His shoulders at tight, fists clenched and breathing audibly.

 

It’s like a ghost town. There are still stains on the walls of where a cleanup crew cleaned blood off of the walls and pavements years ago. Broken windows from looting, broken doors and caving roofs. Under moonlight, it gives Sakura the creeps. The small gardens have been overrun, animals run free around here and a few trees have fallen. There’s clothes, toys littered. Cat’s have overrun the area. 

She sees a broken baby doll in the street, and it makes her ache. It reminded her of a doll that belonged to a young girl a year below them. She carried it around her when she saw her older sister for lunch. Sakura learned years later what had happened to her: and she closed her eyes and looked away. The older she gets, the more and more she thinks of that little girl with her wide dark eyes and brown hair.

It makes Sakura more than a little woozy. She claws onto Naruto’s hand for support. He shoots her a sad smile, pulling her to him and Naruto reaches for Sasuke’s hand. He turns away from Naruto, eyes guarded and dead looking. Sakura lets go of Naruto and stumbles over to Sasuke, wrapping an arm around his waist as Naruto comes closer to him, but Naruto’s eyes strike her as more Fox-like than human. His nose twitches and he reminds her a bit of Akamaru at the moment, sensing for danger. 

Sakura rests her head against the place where his arm and chest meet, and he clenches her shirt almost painfully. She can’t tell if it’s to hold her to him or to throw her off, and she doesn’t think he’s quite figured it out either. She can hear his heartbeat though, and if anyone else was around he’d be tense, but no more...reserved than usual. But in his chest, she could hear his heart going a mile a minute.

He just clenches Naruto’s hand, knuckles turning white. She sees Naruto’s eyes wince slightly, but he doesn’t say anything. 

“I think...they want me to start rebuilding my clan.” Sasuke says, voice cold and unfeeling. “It’s why they’re mentioning for me to sell. They want to push me into it. Even delivered marriage proposals and everything. If I don’t: they’ll claim the compound as their property.” He says. 

Sakura looks up at Naruto from her place at Sasuke’s side. He looks angry, but he moves closer. Sasuke and Naruto’s fingers shift, intertwining and she wants to smile, but it hurts a lot. 

“But they can’t if someone's living here.” Sakura says quietly. Naruto and Sasuke both look at her like she’s insane. “They can’t! I mean, you could contest it easily! They’d have no grounds! The Hokage could easily shut down the council. You could even say that you’re waiting, transforming the compound for later use for your future rebuilding.”

Sasuke glares around this place though. “I don’t deserve it.” He says coldly. “I-I...my brother did this. My brother took this all from me. From them. He killed children-slaughtered civilians. He didn’t just kill the Uchiha name. He killed everyone in sight. Babies, children, the old, the weak, the strong: they’re all dead because of my brother.” He’s shaking as he yanks himself out of both of their hands. He’s angry, shaking, and furious. But it’s not at them.

“Stop being an idiot!” Naruto yells. “You were a kid, teme! It isn’t your fault, and no one would blame you for what he did! No one does!”

He turns around, Sharingan blazing and furious. “Just like no one blames you for the Kyuubi?” Sakura’s jaw drops and Naruto looks like he’s been slapped.

“Will you stop doing that!” She yells at Sasuke. “Will you stop basing yourself off of what he did? You aren’t him!”

“You don’t understand!” He explodes, he’s practically snarling, and Sakura isn’t sure she’s ever seen him this angry. He steps forward angrily and Naruto moves forward quickly.

“Then make us!” He yells back. “Damnit Sasuke, we’re here for you! If we don’t understand, make us!”

Sasuke suddenly drops, grabbing his head and shaking. He kept chanting to himself over and over again, that they didn’t understand. 

She doesn’t fight him anymore. She doesn’t argue, and she doesn’t get angry. She just sits next to him, but Naruto doesn’t follow.

“I don’t know how any of this will end.” She says quietly. “But...but we’re here. Even when we’re gone, we’ll be here. Even if you had left, Sasuke-we’d-we’d still be a team.” He makes a painful noise.

“Why?” He asks finally. “Why? Why after everything, is it still the same? Why would it be the same?” 

She frowns. How could he ask that? Of course they’d still love and care for eachother. After everything they’d been through? The pain, the hurt, the fighting. Everything that she had been through, everything she’d had to fought to keep centered around them. She wouldn’t be anyone today if she hadn’t met them. If they hadn’t put her through hell, if they hadn’t challenged her at every step of the way, she wouldn’t be her. How could he ask her why-

Oh.

Oh, kami.

“Sasuke,” her voice is pained and dear, fucking God, now she understood.

She throws her arms around him, and Naruto looks at her like he understands now. Like he gets it-because if there’s anything that he understands, it’s bonds. He understands love, he understands how it changes people.

“You fucking moron,” Naruto says, because dammit, he was crying. “I-it’s okay, it’s okay to still love him. He’s your brother, man.” He sits down in front of him, and Sakura realizes that she’s crying too. She was clutching him so hard now, because God, she was afraid of letting him go and him leaving again.

This was the first time in years, that she felt like she could understand him. And this was the Sasuke that she loved, the man that she’d seen bits and pieces of. The man who turned what had been a crush into a painful love, to what was an actual love. Not just some fake piece of holding onto what could have been.

They find themselves an hour later in Sakura’s double bed. Sasuke faced the wall, Sakura pinned to him, wrapped tightly and a leg buried between both of his. Naruto’s ankles hooked around theirs, his strong arms lying across them both. His head is burried into Sasuke’s nape, and his other arm is wrapped around Sakura’s midsection.

Sasuke has nightmares.

Sakura moves too much, waking every hour to check if they’re still with her, if she’s still worth it to them.

And Naruto snores too much.

It isn’t perfect. It isn’t pretty. It isn’t pure. But it’s theirs.


End file.
